Read Online Til Death Do Us Part by Beverly Barton - Free Book Online

pair of present-day lovers, any more than there had been for the star-crossed lovers over seventy years ago.
    â€œDo you always get up so early?” J.T. asked.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œIt’s barely daylight and you’re up, dressed, and have already fixed coffee,” he said. “Is this your normal routine?”
    â€œNot always. But sometimes I get up this early andpaint. There’s nothing more glorious than a New Mexico sunrise, unless it’s a New Mexico sunset.”
    â€œYou’re really in love with this country, aren’t you? You’ve fallen under its enchanted spell like so many Easterners have done over the years.”
    â€œMy great-grandmother fell in love…with New Mexico over seventy years ago, when she and her husband spent the summer here on an archaeological dig.” Joanna finished her coffee, placed her empty mug on the table between the two rockers, then looked toward the east at the morning sky.
    â€œYeah, Elena told me the story, or what you told her.” J.T. took another swig of coffee, then placed his half-full cup beside Joanna’s. “Your great-grandmother was a married woman who had an affair with one of the natives, then left the guy and went back home to her safe, secure life in Virginia as the wife of a well-to-do college professor and renowned archaeologist.”
    Joanna’s spine stiffened; she clutched the arms of the rocker. “There was a great deal more to their affair. They were truly in love. It broke her heart to leave him. She loved him as long as she lived.” Joanna thrust her right hand in front of J.T.’s face. “She wore his ring until the day she died.”
    â€œIf she loved him so damned much, why didn’t she leave her husband and stay here in New Mexico with him?” Grabbing Joanna’s hand, J.T. twisted the silver-and-turquoise ring around and around on her finger. “I’ll tell you why. Because Benjamin Greymountain was good enough to take as a lover, but not good enough to marry. He wasn’t good enough for her to give up everything and spend her life with him. That’s not love, Jo, that’s—”
    Jerking her hand out his, she jumped to her feet. “What would you know about love? Listening to you talk aboutour great-grandparents in that way is a sacrilege. If you had read Annabelle’s diary, you wouldn’t say such things. You’d know how deeply she loved Benjamin, and how completely she trusted his love for her.”
    J.T. stood, grabbed Joanna and whipped her around to face him. “You’re right. I don’t know the first thing about love, but I know all about lust, all about how good it feels to scratch an itch that’s driving you crazy.” Lowering his head, he nuzzled the side of her face with his nose.
    No, no! her mind screamed. She wasn’t going to let him do this. She wasn’t going to let him reduce the beautiful love Benjamin and Annabelle had shared into some meaningless sexual affair. And she wasn’t going to let him prove his point by showing her that the two of them felt those same animalistic urges.
    She struggled against his hold, a feeling of panic building inside her. J.T. clutched her waist, pulling her up against him. She gasped when she felt his arousal. “We could have what Benjamin and Annabelle had, if that’s what you want. We could spend the next week making love night and day, and then I’ll go back to Atlanta and you can write in your diary about how exciting it was, having an Indian lover.”
    â€œLet go of me.” She glared at him, hating him. Hating him for making light of their great-grandparents’ love. Hating him for stirring passion to life within her.
    â€œYou don’t want the kind of affair your beloved ancestress had?” J.T. taunted her. “Are you saying you didn’t come to Trinidad—” he yanked her hand up, entwined their fingers and